The subject matter disclosed herein relates to a fight analysis system.
In various forms of fighting (e.g., boxing, martial arts, fencing, criminal attacks, etc.), the success or survival of a fighter is generally determined by the quantity and quality of landed strikes inflicted by and received by that fighter (e.g., punches by a boxing glove in a boxing match, stabs by a knife in a knife fight, or a cut by a sword in a fencing match). The quality of a landed strike can be assessed by determining the type of strike and the force with which the strike landed on the other fighter as well as the location of the strike. For example, a strike landed with a particular amount of force to a particular point on the jaw of a fighter may be more effective than a strike landed with less force to the same point on the jaw of that same fighter. Similarly, a strike landed with a particular amount of force on the forearm of a fighter may be less effective than a strike landed with the same amount of force delivered to the throat of that same fighter.
In most competitive fights, judges determine the quantity and quality of landed strikes based solely on what they can perceive with the naked eye, leaving significant room for human error and mistake. For example, a judge may not be able to see certain landed strikes if his view is obstructed by one of the fighters and therefore may not give a fighter credit for that landed strike. Furthermore, even if a judge is able to see a landed strike, it is often difficult to accurately assess the quality of that strike since that assessment is based primarily on a subjective determination by the judge of the force with which the strike landed. Moreover, in training fighting designed to assess the progress or level of a fighter (e.g., sparring in boxing, testing in martial arts, or defending against a simulated attack in self-defense training), judges are often not available provide indications of the quantity and quality of landed strikes.
In attempting to make scoring of fights more objective, existing solutions include equipment to be worn by the fighters that contain switches or other contacts to indicate the occurrence and location of a landed strike. For example, in fencing, both fighters wear equipment around their torso that can provide an indication when the sword of one fighter has contacted another fighter. These existing solutions, however, typically require that the fighters wear a significant amount of equipment and wiring, decreasing the mobility of the fighters. Also, these existing solutions generally provide information about the occurrence and location of a landed strike, but not necessarily the type of strike and the force with which the strike landed.
In training fighting (e.g., self-defense training), fighters are often required to simulate aspects of a real-fight. For example, the training of a fighter to defend himself against another fighter wielding a knife will involve the use of a fake knife. For the safety of the fighter being trained, the fake knife is typically constructed in such a way that will not inflict significant harm to the fighter being trained (e.g., knife that provides an electric shock to, or marks the clothing of, the fighter stabbed with the knife). However, these safety measures also diminish the reality of the simulation, and therefore diminish the quality of the training. In addition, these simulated fights cannot provide realistic feedback on the actual affect such a landed strike might have on a fighter to better simulate aspects of a real fight. For example, a knife strike to the throat of a fighter would cause more damage (e.g., blood loss) than that same knife strike to the forearm of that same fighter, which would affect the fighter's ability after receiving that strike. Similarly, a strike with a fake knife that does not inflict harm on a fighter does not provide any feedback on the actual force that such a strike would have delivered, diminishing the simulation.
Accordingly, there is a need to provide fight analysis that would objectively determine the quality and quantity of landed strikes without the need to wear a significant amount of equipment and wiring. In addition, there is a need to provide fight simulations that provide a more realistic assessment of a fight.